Is an infusion pump necessary to safely administer remifentanil?

We sought to determine if remifentanil could be administered as safely and effectively from an IV drip as from a calculator pump, because not all anesthesiologists have access to a calculator pump. Forty healthy adults undergoing outpatient knee arthroscopy were premedicated with midazolam, 2 mg. Total IV anesthesia was induced with propofol by bolus (2 mg/kg) and maintained by a continuous infusion of propofol and remifentanil. On a randomized, double-blinded basis, they received, IV, either remifentanil (50 microg/mL) by syringe from an infusion pump or from a bag of saline containing remifentanil 20 microg/mL through a minidrip set. The remifentanil infusion syringe pump rate was 0.4 microg. kg(-1). min(-1) until skin incision and then 0.2 microg. kg(-1). min(-1), whereas that from the bag/minidrip set was set to approximate the delivery rate from the pump. Both a syringe pump and bag/minidrip set infusion were administered to each patient but only one contained remifentanil, that one being determined in a randomized, double-blinded manner. There were no differences in demographic data, time to recovery of open eyes, response to command, ability to speak (approximately 7 min), total dose and time of administration of propofol and remifentanil, the incidence of intraoperative hypotension and bradycardia, and postoperative shivering. We demonstrated that remifentanil can be administered as safely and effectively from a bag with a minidrip set as from a syringe in a calculator infusion pump, provided the anesthesiologist is paying attention to the drip rate from the bag.

Because remifentanil is rapidly degraded in the body, it can be safely and effectively administered from a bag through a minidrip set. We showed that there was no difference with this less expensive method of administration than from the more precise method of a calculator infusion pump.